Attention art (and sculpture) enthusiasts:

Have you registered yet for the 23rd International Sculpture Conference?  We know that you appreciate art, but you may not know about the 23rd International Sculpture Conference in Chicago this October 4th – 6th.  We want to invite you to dive deeper into the world of sculpture, the arts, and to meet other like-minded people!  This year’s multi-track conference, Process, Public, Patron offers something for everyone, whether you are a working artist, teacher, administrator, collector, patron, or simply love sculpture!

Conference events include:

• 7 networking parties and social events
  

• Skill workshops, demonstrations, talks + activities
  

• Intimate mentor sessions

• ARTSlams – share your work with your colleagues and get instant feedback!

• Panels on current topics in the sculpture / art field (including The Transformative Nature of Sculpture on an Urban Community;  Public Art: Alternate Models;  How Can Architects and Sculptors Work Together?;  Relevance of the Gallery System: Galleries, the Internet and Art Fairs in a Changing Market)
  

• Keynote addresses by Sanford Biggers, Sophie Ryder, and Ed Uhlir

• Hundreds of people and professionals who share your interest

 
Conference panels and keynotes will be held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the Chicago Cultural Center, and the week of activity promises to be packed with lots to see and do.  Register now as optional tours, workshops and activities are also gauging interest levels – either they fill to capacity or will be cancelled.  Don’t miss out on this experience.  Register today!

Depth, humor, deception, and a whole lot of color are what you will find at Kipper and the Corpse opening this Friday, April 20th at Robert Bills Contemporary Gallery. These works of art created in a variety of different mediums, including sculpture, photography, drawing, collage, and animation will play tricks on you, abstracting spatial relationships and disguising images and materials as if it were a game. Flipping through the preview images on gallery's website, it's no wonder why this group was put together. Visually you can see parallels between form, texture, color combination, and technique. It's not until you investigate a little bit further into the artists' work where you begin to read into a clear dialogue happening between the themes and context of these crafted works as well.

(Montgomery Perry Smith)

The show features the works of four highly talented conceptual and skilled makers, Lauren Anderson, Mike Andrews, Jessica Labatte, and Montgomery Perry Smith. The three, Anderson, Labatte, and Smith are all former students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), while Mike Andrews, is a current faculty in the Fiber and Material Studies Department, making this a show that I personally am definitely anticipating and looking forward to. The show will be on view from April 20th until June 2nd.

(Mike Andrews)

(Lauren Anderson)

(Jessica Labatte)

Take a look at the full press release at:
http://robertbillscontemporary.com/

Marc Bamuthi Joseph/Living Word Project and Theaster Gates present: red, black, and GREEN: a blues—a multimedia collaborative project that addresses sustainability in urban neighborhoods.
Oakland native, spoken word artist and dancer, Bamuthi, founder of Youth Speaks and artistic director of Russell Simmons’ Brave New Voices an HBO documentary on youth poetry, poses the question: “What sustains life in YOUR community?” red, black, and GREEN: a blues (rbGb) includes the voices of people who are often neglected and excluded from the conversation surrounding “green thinking.” The performance rbGb is a manifestation of the project Life Is Living, a nation-wide series of festivals held in urban parks that emphasize art-making, radical activism, and education. Together Bamuthi and Gates, (Chicago-based performance and installation artist) combined their expertise in dance, text, and visual imagery to portray the extensive research pulled from the Life Is Living project, focusing on community and environmental awareness. rbGb will set the MCA stage April 12-14 along with a visual installation titled, Colored Museum, highlighting Theaster’s experience with repurposed material, urban planning, and design.
Tickets cost  $28 Non-members, $22 members, $10 students

Other related events include:
Dinner and a Show: Marc Bamuthi Joseph/The Living Word Project with Theaster Gates gives the audience a chance to eat and converse with the artists and MCA colleagues. Tickets cost $50

SHareOUT: comprises of a group of young people who combine text, rhythm, media, and conversation to communicate and articulate various realities on the MCA stage. Participating speakers will include: Young Chicago Authors, Kuumba Lynx, YOUmedia, and the MCA Creative Agency. This event is free.

For more information visit:
http://mcachicago.org
or http://mcachicago.org/upclose/ to follow the blog

If you’re like me, you have been anxiously anticipating the day that Chicago’s government would take its art and culture more seriously into consideration as vital resources for rejuvenating and revamping the city’s social economy and community. Well, the time has finally come; and it looks like my prayers (and perhaps yours, too) have been thoughtfully acknowledged and answered. Starting in February, Chicago has begun the Chicago Cultural Plan 2012, a process that has taken the intiative to examine the structural set up of arts in Chicago. The plan strives to engage the community in a conversation that addresses building a stronger cultural plan to further enhance the city and its development.

For the first time, since former Mayor Washington’s administration, in over 20 years, current Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Department of Cultural Affairs is asking residents to come together and share thoughts and ideas on strategic methods for action regarding how to best position art and culture in such a way that will strengthen neighborhood community and refocus attention to Chicago as a major art center and attractive destination for the arts. While the last plan in 1986 made some groundbreaking adjustments, such as the renovation of Navy Pier, transformation of downtown’s Randolph Street into a theater district, and created more incentive and opportunities for film projects, a more consistent and contemporary inspection of Chicago’s cultural capital has since been overdue. Much to my own surprise, Chicago impressively holds the 3^rd largest creative economy in the U.S., generating over $2 billion a year, with 24,000 art enterprises, and over 600 non-profit organizations.

This first step could be an exciting and revolutionary transgression to integrating notoriously segregated communities, improving the quality of education and demand for art in schools, and bringing vibrancy to both thriving and still developing areas in Chicago. As a creative thinker and avid participant in art and art-making here in Chicago, I, for one, am most enthusiastic and looking forward to the growth and improvement of my home city. I find it especially encouraging that the people of Chicago are continuing to be persistent with voicing and expressing their opinions and concerns for what's happening in their own backyards. 

Below I’ve listed the next few upcoming meetings with Chicago Cultural Plan: 

Tuesday, March 13, 2012
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Douglas Park - Field House
1401 S. Sacramento Dr.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012
4:00 - 5:00 PM Student Conversation
6:00 - 8:00 PM Community Conversation
DePaul University
Lincoln Park Student Center LPSC Room 120 B
2250 North Sheffield Ave.

Thursday, March 15, 2012
5:30 - 7:30 PM
Austin Town Hall Park
5610 W. Lake St.

To become a part of these fundamentally crucial conversations, visit the Chicago Cultural Plan’s website and reserve yourself (and a friend!) a ticket.
I just reserved mine.
All events are free of admission.
http://www.chicagoculturalplan2012.com

Even though in Chicago the weather has been a bit rainy and grey, the holidays are approaching and bringing a new year; we know the snow will be here soon enough!

Chicago Gallery News is excited and ready to celebrate the New Year with our upcoming January-March issue, packed with events and openings in 2012! Grab your copy soon, and visit our website to check for the winter openings schedule, to be posted soon.

You don’t have to wait until January to get out and about though, and December’s not over yet. CGN has a list of things to do to keep you busy for the next couple of weeks when, hopefully, you have a little free time to enjoy the city.

See a movie

at the Gene Siskel Film Center

Regular movie theaters will be noisy and crowded this season, so why not venture to another theater like the Gene Siskel Film Center? December offers opportunities to see anything from Le Havre, a feel good film where a shoeshine man shields an African illegal immigrant child from the law, to The Interrupters, directed by Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, in collaboration with the author of There Are No Children Here and more.

Visit siskelfilmcenter.org for schedules. 

Stop by a gallery

Roots and Culture is presenting an exhibition of international artists through January 8, with a Q+A session December 18 at 2pm to mark the occasion of International Migrant’s Day.

• 1034 N. Milwaukee

65GRAND exhibits Bob Jones through December 31^st in a show called Mountains and matte.  The work featured is in between sculpture and painting.

Bob Jones

• 1369 W. Grand 

Devening Projects and Exhibitions presents Mark Booth: The Sea is Represented by an Irregular Shape until January 29^th.   Booth is a Chicago based artist and received his MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

• 3039 W. Carroll

Hear Holiday Music

Stop by the Harold Washington Library downtown to hear holiday concerts throughout the month.  December 15 at 2pm in the library’s grand lobby the Chicago Bar Association Symphony and Chorus performs.

• 400 S. State

Listen

At the Poetry Foundation on December 16 at 7pm Kenneth Goldsmith, poet, DJ, essayist, and UbuWeb founder, will be presenting “My Career in Poetry or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Institution,” a talk about poetic community, ambition, and his new book Uncreative Writing.

• 61 W. Superior

 Hop on the Holiday Express

At the Chicago Botanic Garden, from 10-6 until January 1^st visit the 10,000 sq foot miniature train that winds through Chicago landmarks including Navy Pier, Soldier Field, The Art Institute and Chinatown. The Joutras Gallery will also feature a gingerbread house display. See thousands of festive lights decorating the gardens inside and out! On select days hear carolers and participate in family activities. Visit chicagobotanic.org for more details and to purchase tickets.

Don’t miss the last opportunity of 2011 to shop at the Farmers’ Market at the Botanic Garden.  On December 18 from 10-2 the gardens host a winter farmers’ market with local vendors. It’s a perfect opportunity to purchase some green friendly holiday presents, stock up on your local favorites for the winter, or pick up a few ingredients for your holiday dinner. Expect to see a range of items from free-range meat to veggies, baked goods, handmade pottery, flowers, and soaps! 

Learn more about all of these events and more at chicagogallerynews.com